A fmall anachronism of only thirteen years. See an account of his refolution in his laft illnefs, to undertake a crufade, if he recover'd, and to go in perfon to the Holy Land. Salmon's Hiftory of England, Vol. 3. p. 81.

The First Part of King Henry the Fourth.

ACT I. SCENE I. p. 99.

WEST.

-There came

Apoft from Wales, loaden with heavy news,
Whofe worst was that the noble Mortimer
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight,
Against th'irregular and wild Glendower,
Was by the rude hands of the Welshman taken,
A thousand people butchered;

Upon whofe dead corps there was such misuse,
Such beaftly, fhameless transformation,

By thofe Welshwomen done, as may not be,
Without much shame, re-told, or spoken of.]

Confirmed by Holinfbed, Henry the Fourth. "The Earl of March was taken prisoner, and "about a thousand of his people flain in the

place. The fhameful villany used by the

Welbwomen toward the dead carcafes, was "fuch, as honeft ears would be afhamed to "hear, and therefore we omit to speak there"of. The dead bodies might not be buried " without

Y 3

"without great fums of money given, for li"berty to convey them away.'

Id. ib. p. 100.

The Earl of Douglas is discomfited;

Ten thousand bold Scots, three and twenty knights, Balk'd in their own blood, did Sir Walter fee On Holmedon plains.] This is literally confirmed by Holinfbed, Henry the Fourth, p. 1135, firft edition..

Balk'd in their own blood, fhould, I think, be read baked. The blood being coagulated, and congealed upon their cloaths and bodies.

The fame expreffion is used before, King John, A&t 3. fc. 5.

"Or if that furly fpirit, melancholy,

"Had baked thy blood, and made it heavy" thick."

Id. ib. p. 100. King Henry of the Prince of Wales.

K. Henry. -- O could it be proved That some night-tripping fairy bad exchanged, In cradle cloaths, our children where they lay, And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet; Then would I have his Harry, and be mine. But let him from my thoughts.]

The first Duke of Ormond's return to a compliment of condoleance upon the death of the Earl of Offory, his eldeft fon.

"My lofs (fays he) fits heavy on me, and "nothing else in this world could affect me "fo much; but fince I could bear the death "of my great and good master, King Charles

"the

"the First, I can bear any thing else: and tho' "I am very fenfible of the lofs of fuch a fon "as Offory, yet, thank God, my cafe is not "fo deplorable as that nobleman's, for I "would rather have my dead fon, than his "living one."

See Mr. Cart's Hiftory of the Life of James Duke of Ormond, Vol. 2. p. 507.

Sc. 2. p. 104.

Prince Henry. Thou didst well, for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it.] Alluding to Proverbs i. 20. viii. 1.

Sc. 2. p. 105.

Now we shall know if Gadfhill have fet a match.] Qu. fet a watch or kept a good look out? Pr. Henry. Who, I rob? I a thief, not 1 by my faith.] "Who, I rob? I a thief? "not I." Folios 1623, and 1632.

Id. ib. By the Lord, I'll be a traytor then, when Thou art king] By the Lord, not in Folios 1623, 1632.

Sc. 3. p. 108.

Pr. Henry. If all the year were playing holidays, To fport would be as tedious as to work,

But when they feldom come, they wish'd for come.]

The holidays were about that time so numerous, that in the 28th year of Henry the Eighth's reign many of them were abrogated.

The preamble to the Act. (Bishop Gibson's Codex, p. 276.)

"Forafmuch as the number of holy-dayes

is fo exceffively growen, and yet daily more and more by men's devocyon, yea rather fupersticyon, was like farther to increase, that the fame was, and fholde be not only prejudiciall to the commonweall, by reason "that it is occafion as well of much flouth " and ydleness, the very nouryfhe of theues, vacabounds, and of dyuers other unthrifty"nefs and inconveniences, as of decay of good myfteries, of arts, &c.it is therefore by "the kyng's hyghness auctority, &c.---de" creed, ordayned, and establish'd”.—— Sc. 4. p. 108.

66

King Henry. I will from henceforth rather be myself, Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition, Which bath been fmooth as oil, foft as young down.] Qu. Dove's down; an expreffion which he makes ufe of, Winter's Tale, A&t 4. fc. 7. Florizel to Perdita.

Flor.

"I take thy hand, this hand "As foft as dove's down, and as white as it.” Sc. 4 p. 111,

K. Henry. Why, yet he doth deny bis prifoners, But with provifo, and exception,

That we at our own charge, fhall ransome straight

His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer.]

King Henry. Thou do'ft bely him Percy, thou belieft him.]

"Thou

329 "Thou do'ft bely him Percy, thou do'ft "bely him." Folio 1632.

Sc. 4. p. 117.

Hotfpur. All ftudies here I folemnly defy, Save how to gall and pinch this Bolinbroke, And that fame fword—and buckler, Prince of Wales, I'd have him poifon'd with a pot of ale.]

A manifeft allufion to Caxton's account of King John's death.

"He came (a), fays he, by the abby of "Swynebede, and ther abode two dais: and "as he fat at mete he axed a monke of the "house, how much a lofe was worth that was "fet before hym on the table; and the monke "faid, that the lofe was worth but an half.

penny. Oh, faid the kynge, tho' here is

gret chepe of brede now, fayde he, tho "and I maye liue, fuch a lofe shall be worth "xx fhelyngs or half a yere be gone.-The

monke was for this word full fory in his "herte, and thought rather he hymself would

(a) Caxton's Tractus Temporum. Julian Notary's edition, 1515, folio. 62. Tradit tamen fama vulgaris quod apud monafterium de Swynnefhead obiit intoxicatus. Juraverit enim (ut afferitur) ibidem prandens, quod panem tunc obolo valentem, faceret infra annum fi viveret, 12 d. valere. Quod audiens unus de converfis fratribus illius loci, venenum conficit, et regi porrexit: fed et ipfe fumpto prius viatico, fimul cum rege obiit, haufto ve

neno.

Tho. Otterbourne; Chronic. Rog. Angliæ, p. 77. Edit. a Tho. Hearne.

"fuffre

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